


Monochronic

by Cobalt_Blue99



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Justice League - All Media Types, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Again I'm Broke, Bruce Wayne is Batman, Damian Wayne is Robin, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, I Get Most of My Info Off Wikipedia, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Jason Todd Has Issues, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Jason Todd is Red Hood, No Money for Comics, Not Canon Compliant, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide, Suicide Attempt, Tim Drake is Red Robin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:29:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26622940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cobalt_Blue99/pseuds/Cobalt_Blue99
Summary: Jason Todd went off the deep end. He murdered an innocent woman in cold blood, committed dozens of crimes, was thrown in prison, and sided with a god hell-bent on destroying the world.But that isn't the whole story. No. That's only the surface. The truth is much darker and goes much, much deeper than anyone could have ever imagined.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne, Jason Todd & Damian Wayne, Tim Drake & Jason Todd
Comments: 30
Kudos: 123





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, first things first, this one is going to be dark. Warnings for suicide, mentions of suicide, suicidal thoughts, etc. And yes, I am going heavy on the suicide tags, but I don't want anyone to be caught off guard. So please, be safe and brace yourselves.
> 
> Second, this story is going to jump around a bit, but I promise that it is necessary for the plot.
> 
> Also, I am not giving up on any of my other works, but I like to have several stories going at once so I can switch between them. It helps me come up with ideas for each one and forces me to slow down so I don't rush things.
> 
> So, without further ado, I present to you Monochronic.

Jason Todd tapped his fingers against the cool steel of the interrogation table, unimpressed by the desolate room. He glanced at the one-way mirror and gave a “Really?” look to whoever was on the other side.

Time was wasting, and he would know.

Jason shifted on the metal chair trying to find a more comfortable position, only to be stopped by the Bat-grade cuffs chaining him to the table. His ass was starting to ache from sitting so long. Jason was just starting to wonder if he could sue the Justice League for his sore ass when the door on the other side of the interrogation room opened silently.

Jason’s gaze quickly shifted towards the newcomers who strode into the room. The first one through the door was Batman (of course), followed by Superman, Martian Manhunter, and Wonder Woman.

“Wow,” Jason stated dully. “Looks like you dragged everyone into this. Got to admit, I’m a little surprised. Granted, I’ve never made it this far before.”

“Jason,” Batman growled, causing a chill to run down his spine. “What have you done?”

Jason laughed humorlessly as the heroes sat down at the long, steel table. “Bruce, that’s the wrong question. The right one is, what haven’t I done?”

“You killed someone,” Bruce stated, his face unreadable beneath his mask.

Jason shook his head, an unkind grin plastered on his face. “Oh, I’ve done much more than that.”

Across from him, the heroes tensed.

“Why?” Superman asked softly. “You were doing so well.”

Jason felt a familiar tickle at the back of his mind. He folded his hands and quickly built up his metal defenses. “Don’t,” He said with a glance to Martian Manhunter. “You won’t like what you find.”

“What are you hiding?” Batman demanded.

“Nothing,” Jason shot back. He gestured best he could with his chained hands. Seeing the heroes looks, he added, “I’ve got nothing to hide now. It’s all over and done.”

“Then why won’t you let us examine your mind?” Wonder Woman questioned. Her cold, hard eyes met Jason’s tired ones. Seeing his face, she softened slightly.

Jason sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “That’s complicated,” He admitted. “Normally, it wouldn’t be a problem, but right now? My head is such a mess I’m afraid it might affect you. Trust me. The last place you want to be right now is in my mind.”

The heroes shot each other a look before Batman signaled to Wonder Woman who got up and pulled out her lasso. Jason held still as she tied it firmly around his right arm. She sat down again next to Batman and nodded to him.

“What is your name?” Batman growled.

“Jason Todd.” The words slipped from his lips easily, like flowing water that he couldn’t stop if he tried.

“Did you or did you not kill Jenna Gillas?”

“I killed her.”

“Were you under the influence of anyone else when you committed your crimes?”

“No,” Jason said coolly. “I was in complete control the whole time. I planned everything out meticulously. I killed Jenna Gillas, I killed the fucking god and all his fucking followers, I committed more crimes than I can count in the past year, and I did _so. Much. More_. That you don’t even know about.”

Batman slammed his fist onto the metal table, causing everyone in the room to jump except Jason. Jason just met his furious gaze with the same calm confidence as before.

“I did all that,” Jason continued. “But you don’t have the full story. Hell. You don’t even have anywhere near _half_ the story.”

“So tell us!” Superman said desperately. “What happened to you, Jason?”

Jason leaned forward and scrubbed a restrained hand over his face. “Yeah. Okay. I guess the best place to start would be at the beginning of the year. The first time. The Outlaws and I decided to go out on a space mission and-”

“The Outlaws haven’t been active in over two years,” Batman cut in, his voice dripping with pure fury, “and you haven’t been to space in over three.”

“If you would let me finish, I would tell you,” Jason snapped. His patience was running thin. He was tired, sore, and honestly just wanted to be fucking done. Though, he knew that he still had a very long, very painful conversation ahead of him.

Wonder Woman gestured for him to continue.

“Like I was saying, the Outlaws and I went to space…”

* * *

“For fucks sake Roy, don’t leave that there!” Jason snapped at the redhead.

“But Jay,” Roy whined, “where am I supposed to put it?”

“Not there,” Jason retorted. He grabbed the odd, tetrahedral alien apparatus from the ship’s control panel and tossed it at his friend. “Go put it in your closet with all your other junk or something.”

“It’s not junk!” Roy protested as he fumbled to catch the device. “It is an ancient alien artifact. Learn the difference you uncultured swine.”

“Boys,” Kori rumbled as she rose from her seat to hover in the air. “Do not test my patience or you shall both find yourself stranded on the next planet.” She looked at Roy, her green eyes piercing into him. “Jason is right. Do not leave your alien junk lying around my ship.”

Roy didn’t dare argue. Instead, he collected his prized possession with a scowl and scampered off to find somewhere to stash it.

As soon as he was out of sight, Jason turned to Kori with a grin. “Should we throw it out the airlock later?”

“Yes,” Kori agreed. “It shall go out the airlock.”

“Maybe we should send Roy with it,” Jason joked lightly, causing Kori to huff with amusement. A moment later, Jason’s humor dried up. “So, how much longer before we get back to Earth?”

“Two days at most,” Kori replied smoothly.

Jason grimaced at the news. The Outlaws had received a distress beacon from Earth almost a week ago, but they had been in deep space and the trip back was taking some time. Hopefully, whatever the problem was, the Justice League would have it figured out by the time they got back.

Jason hoped that everything was okay.

He was finally on good terms with the rest of the Bat family and it would suck so badly if he lost everything right after he just got it back.

Jason gazed out into space. The pit of his stomach clenched. Something about this didn’t feel right, but he didn’t know what. Not that he could do anything about it at this point in time.

All he could do is hope that everything was okay.

“They are fine,” Kori soothed gently.

Jason stretched his arms out and rolled his shoulders. “Right. Anyways, I’m going to head off to my room. Let me know when we arrive.”

With that, Jason turned and walked off into the bowels of the ship, the uneasy feeling following close behind.

* * *

Almost eighteen hours later and Jason still couldn’t shake the feeling something was direly wrong. The Outlaws had tried numerous times to signal the Watchtower to no avail. Each time they tried, they got slightly more desperate. Even Kori was unsettled by the silence.

Thank god they were almost back. Jason would have lost his mind if it had taken any longer. They were approaching the solar system and would arrive within the hour.

“I’m going to go check on the weapons,” Roy announced, tired of the intense atmosphere in the cockpit.

“Very well,” Kori said with a nod. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to prepare the weapons considering they had no idea what they were going to be walking into.

Jason set his chin on his folded hands and closed his eyes. He wasn’t religious by any means, but he prayed to any god out there that everyone would be fine. He wasn’t sure he could put up with anymore losses.

Kori floated over to Jason and gently set her hand on his shoulder. “It will be fine,” She told him. “The Justice League is well prepared for any threat. They will handle it.”

“But they sent out a distress beacon into space,” Jason pointed out. “Since when have they done that? I think the last time was when Darkseid attacked. That means we are dealing with at least a Darkseid-level threat here.”

“It will be fine,” Kori repeated firmly.

Before Jason could respond, Roy appeared through the hatch. “Weapons check out guys. We are ready for battle.”

“Great,” Jason said with a roll of his eyes.

“Hey, mock me all you like, but you’ll be thanking me when the cannons don’t jam in the middle of a shootout.”

Kori hummed and turned back to the ship’s controls. She glanced at one of the scanners and tensed.

Jason instantly went on alert. “What is it?”

“That cannot be right,” She said slowly. “Earth is not showing up on the scanner.”

“What?”

Roy quickly joined Kori at the scanner and looked at it. “She’s right. It isn’t picking up Earth. That’s weird. The ship should already be within range.”

“What does that mean?” Jason demanded harshly.

Kori hesitated. “I don’t know,” She said finally. “We are nearly there. Soon we shall see what the problem is.”

Jason looked out the ship’s windshield, his anxiety rising. Damn it. He knew something was wrong. Roy and Kori also stared out into the abyss, trying to catch a glance of their home.

Roy squinted at something in the distance. “What is that?” A moment later, his eyes widened. “Oh. My. God.”

Jason fell to his knees and Kori let out a small gasp.

Before them lay the crumbled remains of the planet.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah... I've really don't got much to say, but I've always used these notes, so now I feel obligated to post something. Even though most people probably just skip over them anyway.
> 
> I guess I should mention that there are suicidal thoughts in this chapter, but it's going to be getting a whole lot worse in the future, so I'm not going to keep posting warnings on chapters every time something major happens. Just be aware of that, and if it's not something you are okay reading, it probably would be best to sit this one out.

“That never happened,” Batman stated.

“It did,” Jason said tiredly.

“But the Earth is still in one piece!” Superman protested.

“It is,” Jason agreed softly.

Wonder Woman stared at Jason, taking in every detail of the exhausted teenage antihero. “You did something,” She concluded.

“I did.”

“What?” Batman growled roughly.

Jason looked away, unable to maintain eye contact. “The worse mistake of my life.”

* * *

The Earth was scattered into millions of small pieces, its molten core cooling like splattered lifeblood in the vacuum of space.

For a moment, all the three of them could do was stare at the fragmented pieces of the planet.

Jason snapped out of it first, shoving away the shock. He turned to Roy. “Scan for life.”

“On it,” Roy said, breaking through his own trance. He quickly started typing on the ship’s controls, his movements becoming more desperate as the seconds dragged on. Finally, he turned back to his team, defeated. “Nothing. There’s nothing. No one survived.”

“Scan again!” Jason demanded. “Someone, _anyone_ , had to have survived. We’re just not looking hard enough!”

Roy looked at Jason, his face crumpled and tears leaking from his eyes. “No one is alive, Jay. They’re dead. All of them.”

“No.” Jason whispered. Tears of his own built behind his eyes. He quickly wiped them away. “No,” He said firmer. “There has to be something we can do. There always is. Like… I don’t know. A reset button or some shit. Anything!”

“Jason,” Kori said softly. “They are gone.”

“No! Not yet!” Jason protested angrily. “We can’t give up. We can’t! Fuck!”

Kori didn’t react to his outburst. Instead, she solemnly walked over to Jason and gathered him into her arms. With a desperate cry, he collapsed into her arms. Kori gently lowered him to the floor as he sobbed into her shoulder, reality finally setting in. Roy joined the two of them a minute later, the three of them mourning the loss of their home together.

The last survivors of Earth.

* * *

Jason paused, a rogue tear leaking from the corner of his eye. The cuffs rattled as he wiped it away with the sleeve of his jumpsuit.

The heroes watched him carefully. They wouldn’t have believed him if it weren’t for the real emotion on his face and the Lasso of Truth still wrapped around his upper arm.

Wonder Woman leaned over across the table and wrapped one of his hands in hers. He smiled brokenly at her.

“What happened next?” Superman asked, as if afraid of the answer.

“Next,” Jason started quietly, “next we traveled around space aimlessly. We had nowhere to go, nothing to do. I can honestly say that in those days, we all wished that we had died alongside everyone else.”

A strained silence followed the grim declaration.

Jason stared into a corner, his eyes unfocused, before he continued. “We just drifted from galaxy to galaxy for months. We tried to do what the Outlaws did best, help people, but our hearts weren’t in it. We had lost _everything_. All we had left was each other.”

“And then, I got an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

That caught the heroes’ attention.

“Who?” Batman demanded. “Who was it?”

Jason shook his head. “No one you know. Let’s just put it this way: do you remember that time I disappeared about… fuck. I think it was a year ago at this point?”

Batman grunted confirmation.

“Right, so. I actually was sent to like this other dimension with some jackass cosmic entity,” Jason said casually, like it was a normal Tuesday. Though, it kind of was for the Bats. “Anyways, this entity made me an offer, but it seemed like crap, so I refused. But after the Earth was destroyed, it suddenly didn’t seem so crappy anymore.”

Batman visibly tensed. “What did it cost?”

Jason shot him a small, sad smile. “Later. For now, just trust me when I say it was a shit deal.”

* * *

“You understand our bargain?”

“Yes,” Jason said wearily. He couldn’t believe he was doing this. This was an unbelievably bad idea. If it didn’t work… Roy and Kori would never know at least. They wouldn’t have to suffer.

“You know the rules then. I’d say good luck, but honestly, I’d benefit more if you lost. So, I don’t really care either way.”

“Just do it,” Jason hissed. He was so sick of the fucker and their games.

“Fine, fine. Mortals. So impatient.”

Jason just glared until everything faded away in a flash of white. The next thing he knew, he woke up in his bed at the Manor, the digital clock beside his bed announcing that it wasn’t even nine in the morning yet.

The bed felt so nice and warm that for a moment, Jason forgot everything until it came flooding back in a suffocating rush. He quickly leapt from the bed and grabbed the phone on the nightstand. He punched in his passcode and opened up the calendar to check the date.

Holy fuck it worked.

It was exactly one year before his fucking world fell apart.

* * *

“Time travel,” Batman concluded grimly.

“Yes,” Jason confirmed.

“What happened then?” Martin Manhunter questioned.

* * *

Jason hesitantly made his way down towards the Manor’s dining room, as if moving wrong could cause the frail illusion to shatter.

As much as he wanted to, he still couldn’t make himself believe it was real.

As he neared the dining room door, he could hear muffled voices and the clink of expensive silverware on fancy glassware. He swallowed the lump in his throat before managing to scrape up enough courage to open the door.

His family… his _family_ , sat around the polished oak table. Tim and Damien were arguing about something while Dick talked at Bruce, who was reading the paper and was ignoring the chattering young adult. Dick paused his ramblings and glanced up as Jason entered the dining room in a daze.

“Morning Little Wing,” Dick chirped in greeting.

Jason almost broke down then and there. He never thought he would hear that overly cheerful voice again.

Dick caught the look on his face. “What’s wrong?”

That caught the attention of the rest of the Bats. Four pairs of eyes turned to stare at him intently, analyzing the situation for potential threats.

Jason tried to play it nonchalant and walked over to his old spot next to Tim. “Move over Replacement,” He managed to croak out.

Tim gave him a weird look before scooting over a little. Jason sat down next to him. He didn’t even bother trying to hide his stare as he looked Tim over. Tim squirmed uncomfortably at the attention before turning back to Damien.

“Look, Demon,” Tim snapped, “I don’t care if you have a sword. I have a stick. And I can whoop your ass six ways from Sunday. Just name a time and a place, brat.”

“Tim,” Bruce cut in, “don’t fight your brother. Damien, stop threatening Tim with swords.”

“Better make that any weapon, Bruce,” Dick pointed up helpfully.

Jason burst out laughing. He couldn’t help it. It had been over a year, _a year_ , since he had last seen his family, and this was the fucking conversation he had come home to.

Fuck he had missed them.

The looks he was receiving increased. Okay, they definitely thought he was crazy now. Hell, maybe he was. But he was beyond caring at this point.

His laughter intensified to the point that he doubled over. Tim subtly reached towards his pocket where Jason knew he had sedatives stashed, while Dick hovered over Jason, concern leaking from his eyes.

“Jay, are you alright?” Dick asked cautiously.

“Of course he is not,” Damien said as if he was stating a fact. “He belongs in Arkham with the other mentally ill.”

“Love you too,” Jason chuckled, causing Damien’s face to turn bright red with anger. Jason shook away the rest of his laughter and turned to face Bruce. “Seriously though, I need to talk with you after breakfast. It’s urgent.”

Bruce saw the look on his face and told him, “We can meet in the Cave.”

Jason nodded. He then grabbed a plate and helped himself to the spread before him, ignoring the worried looks his family was sending him.

“Where’s Alfie?” Jason asked, looking around for the butler.

“It’s Sunday,” Tim said carefully. “Alfred goes shopping every Sunday morning. I thought you knew this?”

“Right, right,” Jason conceded, “it’s just been a while. That’s all.”

Tim quirked an eyebrow. “You stayed over last Sunday.”

Damien scoffed. “Like I said, he belongs in Arkham.”

“Begone, Demon,” Tim snapped. Damien hissed at him and lunged with a fork.

Jason shoved away his troubled thoughts and just tried to enjoy the chaos that ensued.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this? Another chapter? So soon?
> 
> Okay, fine. I've been destressing from my exams by writing angst. Sue me. Don't worry though, eventually I'll go back to updates so sparse everyone will wonder if I fell of the face of the Earth. Hopefully not. I'd hate to do that to anyone, but we'll see. Either way, enjoy while you can!
> 
> Also, remember what I said about warnings last chapter? There's your warning.

“That must have been hard for you,” Wonder Woman said sadly. She gave Jason’s hand a small squeeze.

Jason returned a soft smile. “It was the best. And worse. A reminder of what I had lost, and what I could lose again. It made me pretty damned determined though. I sure as hell didn’t want to lose everyone for a second time.”

“I figured my best bet was to bring the Justice League into it as soon as possible,” Jason continued. “This wasn’t normal time travel, so it had none of those dumbass rules or paradoxes. That was part of the deal. I was free to tell anyone anything I liked.”

* * *

The Cave was exactly how Jason had remembered it. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand, it was nice to see something so familiar, on the other it was just a stern reminder of what was to come.

Jason was sitting in a chair by the Batcomputer when Bruce finally arrived. He jumped to his feet and practically ran towards the older man.

“What did you want to talk about Jason?” Bruce asked gently. Naturally, he didn’t miss the pained look on Jason’s face.

Jason quickly put on a neutral expression and turned to face his adoptive father. “Okay. There is no easy way to say this, so I am just going to spit it out. I’m from the future.”

Bruce just nodded, as if that was what he had expected. Who was Jason kidding, of course it was.

“The earth was destroyed,” Jason elaborated. Fuck. He could already feel the tears pricking his eyes. “The Outlaws and I were in space. When we got back, Earth was already in pieces. Everyone was dead.”

“What happened?” Bruce, no. _Batman_ asked. The gentleness from before had all but evaporated. Jason didn’t take it personally; this was just how Bruce dealt with shit.

Jason shook his head. “I don’t know. The Outlaws spent months searching for answers, but we never found anything. The best we could figure, something went down on Earth. No one knew anything about an invasion from space and trust me, word gets around out there. Since we didn’t know what happened, we could never find a way to reverse it.”

“How did you come back?”

“A powerful someone owed me a favor,” Jason lied without skipping a beat. Thankfully, Bruce was too busy processing everything to spot the untruth.

Bruce stroked his chin in thought. “We need to inform the Justice League as soon as possible. How far back did you come?”

“Exactly one year,” Jason whispered. “Exactly one year from today, the Earth will be destroyed.”

“Then we have time,” Bruce said calmly.

He closed the distance between him and Jason and wrapped his arms around the young man. Jason fell into the hug and his shoulders started shaking as he desperately tried not to start sobbing again. There had been enough of that the past seven months.

“We will figure it out,” Bruce promised. “Everything will be okay.”

* * *

The silence in the interrogation room was suffocating. None of the heroes knew how to respond to the revelation.

Jason took mercy and turned to Martian Manhunter. “You might want to sit this one out,” He told the alien. “I can already tell all the emotions are giving you whiplash, and it’s only going to get worse from here on out.”

The Martian nodded gratefully. “I shall take my leave then.” With that, he phased through the chair and floor.

The remaining three heroes sat in silence for a minute.

Wonder Woman finally cleared her throat. “What did you do next?”

* * *

“I heard you’re from the future, Little Wing.”

Jason glanced up from his book at the intruder in the doorframe. “I guess that means Bruce held a meeting with the Justice League.”

Dick nodded. “Yeah. No one wants to believe it, but Batman hasn’t lied to them yet.”

“That they know of,” Jason said with a snort.

Dick grinned as he walked into the room and sat on the bed next to Jason. The grin faded as he examined his younger brother. “Are you doing okay?”

“No,” Jason admitted. “I’m really not. I go into space for a few months and by the time I come back, everything is gone. It really messes with yer head, ya know?”

“I can’t even imagine,” Dick acknowledged. “But now that we know, we can deal with the threat. It won’t happen again.”

Jason shook his head. “We don’t know that,” He said. “We don’t even know what happened, much less how to stop it.”

“Hey now,” Dick admonished. “Don’t think like that. Come on.” Dick grabbed Jason’s arm and tried to pull the bulky man up. “Tim and Damien want to watch a movie.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re forcing them to watch a movie with you, and misery loves company,” Jason deadpanned as he shifted his weight into the bed.

“So?” Dick retorted. “Now get up! Moping around isn’t going to help.”

Jason groaned. “Fine. But Alfred better have made a batch of kettle corn.”

“Four bowls,” Dick bargained “Come down and I can guarantee that two of them will be yours.”

“Deal.”

* * *

Naturally, some of the heroes in the League were skeptical about Jason’s claims. It had taken a mind scan from Martian Manhunter and several uncomfortable sessions with the Lasso of Truth before the majority of the League members were willing to admit the Earth was in fact destroyed.

At that point, plans were set into motion and investigating was done.

Magic users like John Constantine and Zatanna were deployed to probe the issue from a magical perspective while others like Batman and Question looked at the physical side of things.

So far, neither team had managed to find anything out of the ordinary.

Time ticked by slowly as fall turned to winter.

As the months passed by, Jason became increasingly more visibly stressed. They were approaching the half-year mark and had no more answers than when they had first started. The Bat family did their best to try and reassure him that everything would be fine, but they weren’t the ones who returned home to find it nothing more than space dust.

Spring was finally starting to near when Jason received a familiar call.

“Jaybird!” Roy said brightly over the phone. “I’ve got a proposition for you.”

Oh. With everything going on, Jason had almost forgotten about this. Since traveling through time, Jason had purposely avoided Roy and Kori and had asked Batman to exclude them from the mission. Since the two of them didn’t usually participate in the hero community, it hadn’t been impossibly difficult to leave them in the dark.

Jason would rather save them the pain of knowing they had been Earth’s only survivors if he could.

“Hey, Roy. What’s up?”

“I was just talking with Kori the other day,” His hyper friend started, “and it struck me that we haven’t done anything together in _such_ a long time.”

“You mean as Outlaws?” Jason asked, even though he already knew the answer.

“Yeah!” Roy shouted happily. “That’s exactly what I mean!”

“What did you have in mind?”

“So, I heard this interesting rumor about an alien artifact,” Roy quickly explained. “Sounds like a pretty simple smash-and-grab from some evil alien overlord or something. I figure we could kill two birds with one stone. Liberate a planet and get a cool souvenir out of it at the same time. Whaddya say?”

Jason hesitated. He had decided what he was going to do earlier, but now he was second guessing his choice.

“Sorry man,” Jason said apologetically. “I’ve got something else going on right now. Tell you what though, why don’t we go sometime in October? My schedule should be open then.”

“Oh.” Roy sounded disappointed. “Sure. Okay. Yeah, let’s plan for then, then.”

“Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay,” Roy said quickly. “I just thought it could be fun. That’s all.”

“It does sound fun,” Jason admitted. “I look forward to going with you.”

“Yeah. Well, don’t be a stranger! Later, Jaybird!”

Roy hung up. Jason breathed a sigh of relief as he tossed his phone onto the bed. He wasn’t sure he had made the right choice. He could have always told Roy that him and Kori should go without Jason. That way, if things didn’t turn out, they at least would be safe.

But remembering what it had felt like… No. The survivor's guilt the three of them suffered through had been crippling. It would be better to just all die together.

* * *

“That was when you went to space,” Wonder Woman stated. “The first time.”

“Yes,” Jason replied. “That was about six months before the destruction of Earth. In the first timeline, the mission went south and it took twice as long as we had initially predicted. If it weren’t for that, we would have been on Earth when everything went down.”

“So, it was good thing you went?” Superman asked Jason curiously.

Jason scoffed. “Depends you ask. But we’ll come back to that. In the meantime, I’m going to skip over the rest of that first year. There is still a lot to cover, and I’d rather do it as quickly as possible,” Jason explained. He paused. “Though, there is one more part that I need to mention. It becomes relevant later.”

* * *

It was officially 82 days past the original point where Jason and the Outlaws had left Earth. From that point on, Jason was left with no reference as to what was going to happen next. This was completely new territory, and honestly, it scared him.

After half a year of having at least a vague recollection of what was going to occur, suddenly being left in the dark left him frazzled. Especially since he knew that a literal world-ending event could occur at any moment.

Jason tried not to let it get him down.

But he did notice that he had somehow formed a habit where he would find excuses to follow his family around like a lost puppy. They had all tried to be understanding of his situation, even Damien, but Jason could tell it still got on their nerves.

This particular night, Jason had tried to follow Red Robin out on patrol only to be told by the teen that he wasn’t quiet enough for a stakeout.

Jason wanted to point out that he was trained by _Batman_ and _literal ninjas_ so stealth wasn’t an issue, but he had seen the agitation on his brother’s face and thought better of it.

He would have patrolled with Dick, but Damien was with him, and if there was one thing Jason had learned, it was not to get between the Demon Brat and his Nightwing time.

Bruce of course was never an option. Jason would rather die again than follow Batman around like he was back in the pixie boots. Besides, Batman was on the Watchtower with the League in a meeting, so Jason couldn’t tag along even if he wanted to.

That meant it was just Jason out alone tonight.

Fine. Nothing he hadn’t done before. It was one night months before the planet was destroyed. They would all be fine.

Or so Jason tried to reassure himself as he sat wearily on the vacant roof of a skyscraper. He leaned back against the cool concrete with a sigh.

Fuck. The deadline was approaching fast and there still hadn’t been any progress made. Both teams had failed at digging anything up.

Jason was starting to wonder if any of it had ever happened and it had been a pit-induced hallucination. But he had completely detoxed from the pit ages ago, and that wouldn’t explain his knowledge of future events for the few months prior to when he had gone to space.

Jason was suddenly pulled from his rambling thoughts by a shadow several rooftops over. He squinted in the dim light, trying to make out what it was.

He finally got a good look at the figure and realized it was woman just as she swung her feet over the ledge.

“No, stop!” Jason shouted frantically. He jumped to his feet and ran to the edge as the woman plummeted over the side. He scrambled for his grapple but stopped with the realization that it was already too late.

“Fuck!” He roared into the night. If he weren’t so lost in his own thoughts, he would have noticed her sooner. He could have saved her. Dammit!

He forced himself not to look at the gory scene on the sidewalk as the sound of sirens echoed through the desolate streets. But he didn’t need to look to see. His mind kept flashing images of a young woman with twisted limbs lying on the pavement below, blood blooming outwards from her crushed body.

His fault. All his fault.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have a ton to do this weekend, so there is a good chance I'll be posting multiple updates, maybe even as soon as later today. We'll see.

“It wasn’t your fault.”

Jason turned to look at Wonder Woman. “Oh, I know that now.” Jason said easily, sending a chill down her spine. “I’ve had a lot of time to come to terms with that. But back then, I was so full of guilt I could have blamed myself for global warming and felt fucking justified.”

Jason rolled his shoulders, trying to ease the stiffness from being restrained for so long. As soon as Jason moved, Batman reached down towards his utility belt.

“Relax,” Jason with a lazy grin. “I’m not going to do anything. Everything I want to do, I’ve already accomplished.”

“You aren’t exactly inspiring confidence,” Superman stated.

Jason barked a humorless laugh. “I should hope not. You’d have to be fucking idiots to trust me after everything I’ve done. I don’t really expect me telling you any of this will change anything, but I feel like you deserve the full story.”

“Speaking of which,” Jason continued, “I guess now we are getting into the interesting part. I suppose you all want to know more about the big bad. I mean, what little you’ve seen of him wasn’t all that impressive, so how much of a threat could he really have been, right?”

“Well, let me tell you something. What you’ve all seen doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface.”

* * *

The unknown threat hung over Jason’s head like the sword of Damocles, just waiting for the strings to snap. Months of research and they still didn’t know what they were dealing with. All that had turned up was rabbit trails and dead ends.

And then one day, it happened.

Exactly one month from the date the world would end, the threat made itself known.

At the time, Jason was in the Manor chasing down leads on a drug case. Bruce had told him that even though there was a larger threat, they couldn’t put everything else completely on hold. Jason understood. Really, he did. There were still no leads, and the world didn’t stop moving just because it would be destroyed in another month. Yet, it still rubbed him the wrong way. Like he was wasting time with less important matters.

He was almost to the point of throwing his laptop in frustration when Alfred walked into the den.

“Master Jason,” He said calmly. “You had better turn on the television.”

Jason didn’t bother to ask why. If Alfred was telling him to do something, there was a good fucking reason.

He reached towards the remote left sitting on the side table next to him and turned on the TV. He flicked through the channels until he hit a news station. Instantly, he was bombarded with gruesome imagery of a familiar building painted with runny red symbols and blurred-out body parts before the camera turned to face a queasy reporter.

“That was the scene here at Wayne Tower as what is thought to be a cult extremist proclaimed his undying loyalty to an unspecified deity before killing a civilian in cold blood,’” The reporter stated. “The victim was twenty-nine year old Andrew Carham, an office worker at Wayne Industries who was out on his lunch break at the time of the attack. The victim was torn apart before his blood was used to draw symbols on the tower. Witnesses say that the perpetrator was a tall man with tattooed symbols on his face and arms that were similar to those drawn on the tower. They all agree that he had inhuman speed and strength as he ripped the victim completely in half.”

“There are reports of similar incidents occurring in several major cities across the United States. That begs the question-”

Jason turned off the TV. Shit. What the hell was that?

* * *

By the time Jason arrived on the Watchtower decked out in full Red Hood gear, it was already buzzing with gossip and speculation. As he landed on the teleporter, the conversation died down as heroes turned to stare at him. He shifted uncomfortably from the attention and was about to walk away when he was approached by Firestorm.

“Hey man,” The teenage hero greeted nervously. “Was this what you came back from the future to warn us about?”

Jason swallowed hard. “I don’t know,” He replied honestly. “I wasn’t here last time. Maybe.” He glanced over the kid’s shoulder and saw Batman brooding in a corner. “I’ve got to go.”

With that, he shoved his way past the anxious heroes until he reached Batman.

“Bruce,” He whispered.

“We need to talk,” Batman said sharply.

Without another word, Batman turned and walked down a corridor, Jason following close behind. Batman led him to the Founders conference room where the namesake was gathered. As the two of them entered the room, the rest of the Founders snapped to attention.

Batman sat in his reserved seat while Jason pulled up an empty chair on his left.

“Now that we are all here,” Batman said gravely, “we need to get down to business.”

“The attacks,” Flash jumped in.

“Yes. So far, there have been four. One in Gotham, one in Metropolis, one in Central City, and one in Coast City,” Batman said roughly. “The only thing that these cities have in common is that a Founding member lives there.”

“A statement, perhaps?” Aquaman offered.

“Perhaps,” Superman replied. “Each of the killings was committed by a different person. So far, we know that two of the perpetrators are women, two are men. They all followed the same pattern. One victim killed at a significant location in broad daylight in front of hundreds of witnesses.”

“Like a sacrificial ritual,” Wonder Woman said.

“Exactly like one,” Batman agreed. “Several witnesses at the Gotham location reported that the perpetrator declared that he did it for his ‘god.’”

“Could this have anything to do with the end of the world?” Flash asked. Everyone turned to look expectantly at Jason.

Jason could feel himself shrinking under the attention. “I don’t know,” He said weakly. “I was off-planet at this point. The Outlaws never managed to figure out what happened. All the evidence was dust by the time we arrived.”

“There had to have been something,” Aquaman pushed. “Think harder.”

“Damn it!” Jason shouted. He smashed his fist onto the table, making Flash jump. “You think I haven’t tried? There was fucking nothing! You should be fucking grateful I even had a way to come back.”

“Red Hood, enough,” Batman growled.

“You know what, fuck this!” Jason snapped. He rose so fast that his chair fell over. “Everyone always fucking acts like I’ve got all the answers. News flash! If I did, I wouldn’t be here.”

With that, Jason turned and stormed out of the conference room, ignoring Batman as he called after him. He marched straight towards the teleporters, ignoring everyone who tried to flag him down. He was in the process of punching in the coordinates to his most recent safehouse when Red Robin suddenly appeared next to him.

“That could have gone better,” Red Robin commented.

“You were listening in? Who am I kidding, of course you were. What do you want, Replacement?”

“Replacement, huh?” Red Robin said thoughtfully. “Haven’t heard that one in months. You must be pretty out of it.”

“Shut up,” Jason hissed. “You know nothing.”

Red Robin threw up his hands in a pacifying gesture. “You’re right, I don’t. But I am willing to listen if you want.”

Jason paused for a moment to think before answering. “Sure. Why not.”

“Great!” Red Robin clapped once before shoving Jason out of the way and typing in a new set of coordinates.

“Where are we going?” Jason questioned.

“My place,” Red Robin said nonchalantly. “Yours is a pigsty and I’d rather spend as little time there as possible.”

“It is not,” Jason protested. “It’s just not as fancy as you are used to, rich boy.”

“Whatever you say,” Red Robin replied with a shrug. “Still not going. There. Coordinates are in. Ready when you are.”

* * *

“I’m not telling you the rest,” Jason said, fully aware that the Lasso of Truth could force him if the heroes so desired. “It’s personal and has no relevance to the rest of the story.”

Jason was relieved when Batman nodded. That night with Tim was one of the few good memories that he had left, and he would rather not taint it by telling anyone.

A moment of peace amidst a lifetime of despair.

Jason waited a moment before continuing. “Trust me when I say that we tried _everything_ to track the fuckers down. Nothing worked. It wasn’t until a lot later that I found out why,” He recounted. “Anyways, after that incident, nothing happened for a while. Actually, now that I think about it, that last month was pretty calm all things considered. At least, it was until the last day before Armageddon.”

“That was when shit really hit the fan.”

* * *

There were alerts going off everywhere. Energy surges were reported all over the world, yet there seemed to be no one identifiable cause.

The heroes were frantic. The Earth’s destruction was predicted to be in less than 24 hours, and now there was unidentified phenomena occurring around the globe. There was no way it was a coincidence.

“Red Robin, triangulate the last tremor. Get us a location.”

“I’m trying, Bruce,” Red Robin yelled over the clicking of the keyboard.

Jason and Nightwing watched nervously over his shoulder as Red Robin worked on the Watchtower’s computer. The rest of the Justice League had been ejected from the monitor room and were busy trying to minimize the damage caused by the surges.

Over by the doorway, Robin tutted. “Try harder, fool. Otherwise we will all die.”

“So, no pressure or anything,” Red Robin muttered angrily. The frantic typing continued for another minute before he announced, “Got it! Batman, it’s all centered here.”

Red Robin hit a key, pulling up a map with a single, marked location.

“Metropolis?” Jason questioned. “I thought for sure it was going to be Gotham.”

“Metropolis is larger,” Batman inferred. “It is symbolic of the formation of the Justice League and one of our most powerful members. If the attacks last month were anything to go by, we are being personally called out.”

Batman turned to leave with a swish of his cape.

“Where are you going?” Nightwing demanded.

“I am going to gather the League and we are going to end this,” Batman stated firmly. “You will be staying here.”

“Nuh uh,” Nightwing disagreed. “Based off what Jason told us, the Watchtower was destroyed too. If you lose, nowhere is safe. We’ll all die anyways, so we might as well fight.”

“He’s right, Bruce,” Jason said, snapping his helmet into place. “There was nothing left of the Earth or the Watchtower. We all need to be there. It’s our best chance.”

Batman looked like he was going to argue further, but he finally nodded instead. “Fine, but you will stay at a distance and wait.” Batman pressed the comm in his ear. “Batman to Justice League. We have a location. Meet at the following coordinates.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, here is the second update.
> 
> I will warn you, I don't have a ton of experience writing action scenes, so it might be pretty bad. There is going to be a lot more of them in the future, so I can promise that I'll get better at it eventually. But in the meantime, please bear with me as I try to figure it out.
> 
> Maybe I'll rewrite this chapter... Or not. I'm kinda lazy so probably not.

“And that was the beginning of the end,” Jason declared.

Superman looked both flustered and perplexed. Wonder Woman also had a confused expression, but there was something else there that couldn’t quite be placed. Batman remained stoic, though Jason could tell he had already worked through what was going to happened next.

“I don’t remember any of this,” Superman said incredulously.

“You wouldn’t,” Jason said with an eerie calm. “Because we didn’t win.”

* * *

“What the hell is that?” Jason wondered aloud as he looked down the scope of his sniper rifle.

City Hall was covered with what appeared to be… black. It just looked black. It didn’t look like goo, or paint, or anything else he had seen before. It was almost as if the whole building was covered by a shadow.

“Stay on your toes,” Nightwing reminded him through the comms.

Nightwing and Robin were stationed several rooftops over from where Jason and Red Robin were. They were close enough to the action to see it, but still too far away to make out any of the details.

From what Jason could tell, the four cultists from the month before had gathered in front of the building and one of them appeared to be monologuing. It was moments like this that Jason really wished he had Kryptonian super-hearing. He focused his rifle onto the bulky man and waited for the signal.

“Watch out!” Someone screamed over the comms, causing Jason to flinch. A moment later, an explosion echoed across the city.

Jason whirled his scope towards the source of the blast and saw that one of the cultists engaged in battle with Wonder Woman, who was easily holding her own against the almost feral woman. The woman was armed with a sword that appeared to be covered with the same shadow as the building.

That appeared to be the unspoken signal as the monologuing man charged at Batman and the remaining two took off towards other heroes, each with their own melee weapons.

The four cultists were definitely metas of some kind, as they had no problem holding their own against the League. Jason had no doubt that if the fights were one-on-one, they would give the poor fucker run for their money. As it were though, the heroes divided into groups and started to push back.

This was what had destroyed the world?

Not that Jason was going to complain if it was easy. Still… Even without the warning, he was sure the heroes could have taken these fuckers on. Was there something they were missing?

Suddenly, the four cultists broke away from their individual fights and gathered in front of the ominous black. The heroes tried to follow, only to be blasted from their feet by something. The shock wave reverberated throughout the city, shattering windows and knocking Jason and the others back.

The fuck?

The wind started howling as a portal made from the same ominous black formed behind the cultists. One of the cultists shouted something, but it was lost in the wind.

“Oh no,” Jason heard Red Robin say next to him.

The thing that came out of the portal… Fuck. It wasn’t like anything he had seen before. It was shaped like a man, but it was covered is the same blackness of the portal. One could almost mistake it for human, if it weren’t for the fact it reeked like violence and the promise of death. Even from several blocks away, Jason felt frozen at the dark aura surrounding the creature.

The creature took a stumbling step forward, breaking the spell. Superman shot two twin lasers at the creature, but it did nothing. They weren’t absorbed or reflected. There was just… nothing.

For a moment, no one moved. Then, all hell broke loose.

The four cultists lunged yet again at the heroes, but this time, they seemed even more powerful than before. Each one was taking on whole groups of heroes easily. It was as if before, they had just been playing like cats with mice.

The whole time this was occurring, Superman and Shazam rushed the creature, who merely reached out an arm and grabbed Superman by the throat.

The crack that followed would haunt Jason for years.

The creature threw Superman’s limp body into Shazam, knocking him through a building.

Jason watched as hero after hero fell at the hands of the cultists and the creature, his horror steadily rising. He tried to shoot one of the cultists, only to have the bullet bounce off her skull like a harmless BB.

Oh god.

Nightwing echoed his thoughts through the comms before he took off towards the action using his grapple.

“No!” Jason shouted. “Don’t!”

Robin and Red Robin took off after Nightwing. Jason, desperate not to be left behind, followed shortly behind.

Nightwing reached the action first, swinging into one of the cultists and throwing her before she could impale Flash with her already bloodied sword.

Nightwing lunged at her with his escrima and was soon joined by Robin, armed with his own sword. The two of them quickly melding their styles and engaged the furious woman.

Red Robin and Jason tried to join them, but they were stopped when one of the cultists threw the crushed body of Green Arrow in front of them, halting their progress. They quickly turned to face the brute of a man that Jason recognized as the monologuer from earlier.

“Face your deaths,” The cultist declared as he twirled a spiked mace in his hand.

Red Robin and Jason exchanged looks in an unspoken conversation before running at the man in synch. Jason pulled out his guns and bombarded the man with bullets while Red Robin went for his knees with a bow staff.

The man brushed off the barrage like flies and swung his mace at Red Robin with a grunt. Red Robin slid under the weapon at the last moment, it barely missing his head. Red Robin flipped backwards towards Jason, who tried his best to provide the younger hero with cover fire.

“This isn’t working,” He told Jason.

“No kidding,” Jason yelled back as he reloaded his guns.

The two of them dodged to the side as the giant mace landed between them. Jason recovered and shot the man in the eye, only for it to ricochet back at him, striking the Kevlar armor of his shoulder.

“Fuck!” Jason cried. “What the hell are these things made of?”

“Death,” The cultist hissed.

He backhanded Jason, shattering his helmet and sending him flying into a building. Jason’s head bounced sharply off the concrete. Blood poured into his eyes from a cut on his brow as he tried to blink way his doubled vision.

The cultist started towards Jason, intent of finishing what he had started. He was knocked off course by a flash of red and black as Red Robin desperately tried to stop him with a vicious attack that barely phased the brute. He grabbed Red Robin’s arm in one of his oversized hands, snapping it like a toothpick before throwing him to the ground.

Red Robin landed with a scream of pain and tried to recover, but the cultist swung his mace before he could. The crunch of ribs echoed through Jason’s ears as the blow landed. Blood spurted from Red Robin’s mouth as he fell to the side in a heap.

Jason flung his guns away as he launched himself off the side of the building desperately as the brute raised his mace once more.

Jason watched in horror as the killing blow landed in slow motion, a rattling death cry escaping from Red Robin’s lips before he fell silent.

“No!” Jason howled in anguish. He felt a familiar tingle in his fingertips as he willed the All-Blades into existence. “Tim!”

Jason slashed at the cultist’s neck with one of the blades with a cry of fury, only for the blade to slide harmlessly against exposed skin. The thing knocked the blades from Jason’s hands in an effortless show of strength.

“You cannot win,” The monster said with a cruel smile. “Our god has guaranteed our victory.”

The mace struck Jason’s chest, throwing him to the ground. He could feel his ribs snap from the force of the blow. A strangled cry escaped his lips as bone shards pierce soft organ.

The cultist raised his mace, prepared for a final blow, when the earth underneath them rattled. The cultist lowered his weapon and stated, “The time has come. My god summons me.”

The monster turned and walked away, leaving Jason to die alone. And Jason had to doubt that he was in fact dying. He could feel the internal damage as he gasped for breath, each one getting increasingly harder to take.

From the corner of his eye, he could see the still form of his younger brother. “Tim,” He croaked out, something warm leaking from his lips. He tried to turn, but the pain from that small movement alone placed him on the verge of passing out. “Tim.”

His brain slowly fogged over. It was getting harder to think, to remain conscious. Did he even want to be conscious? Wouldn’t it be easier to let the blackness take him?

No. There was something else. Someone else. Someones else?

The earth shuddered again with a groan. The same black that had covered City Hall spread like an infection over the ground in webbed patterns.

For a moment, everything was still.

Then a loud crack echoed out from the bowels of the earth, followed by a violent pulsing. Screams pierced the air as buildings swayed and fell as the ground opened, swallowing everything.

Pieces of concrete rained like meteors, crushing everyone and everything in their paths. Jason felt the air shift as a shadow fell over him. He closed his eyes and mercifully knew no more.

* * *

Jason awoke with a scream.

Sweat riddled his body, his heart racing as he drew in a rattling breath.

Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck.

What the hell was that?

A sob escaped him as he buried his head in his hands. He fell back into the pillows, his mind racing and-

Pillows?

Jason’s eyes snapped open as he frantically looked around. He was greeted by the familiar sight of the sparsely furnished guest bedroom he elected to use when he stayed over at the Manor.

He scrambled to grab the phone sitting next to the bed. The illuminated screen announced the time glaringly. Nine in the morning.

One year earlier.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I was originally going to make this into two chapters, but the second one was pretty short and I'm like, "Huh. Maybe I should just combine the two." So this update is slightly longer than normal (Not that the updates are usually very long to begin with). Enjoy!

“Hera,” Wonder Woman muttered. Superman recoiled, his face twisted with pain and disbelief. Only Batman seemed unmoved by the events, but a small flinch said otherwise.

“That was part of the deal,” Jason explained. “Every time I died before the year was up, time would reset, and I would have to live it all over again.”

The implications were not lost on the heroes.

“How many?” Batman demanded.

Jason sighed through his nose. “A lot. I lost count somewhere around twenty-three, though it could easily be three or four times that.”

“And you just died?” Superman asked in horror. “Over and over again?”

Jason shrugged. “Something like that. It does get a bit more complicated. Otherwise I would have just told you guys, ‘I died a lot. The end.’ Obviously, I didn’t do that so there’s more to the story that you need to know.”

* * *

For the longest time, all Jason could do was just lay curled up in the comforter. The fear, the pain, the dread. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the shattered body of his little brother. Every time he tried to move, his body screamed from the phantom pains of death.

Before, with the Joker, Jason had thought that dying alone was the worst thing that could have happened to him. But at least that then he had known that Bruce was okay, that Dick was alive.

Watching his family be torn apart before his eyes and being powerless to do anything was so much worse. He would rather die a hundred times alone in a warehouse than have to experience _that_ one more time.

But he might not have a choice.

And that was what scared Jason.

A loud knock at the door startled Jason out of his thoughts. He flinched at the sound and burrowed deeper into the bedding.

“Jason,” Tim’s muffled voice said. “Are you up yet? Breakfast is getting cold.”

“Tim,” Jason breathed prayer-like as he scrambled out of bed, tripping on the blankets. He hardly dared to hope it was true as he flung the door open, revealing a young man bearing an almost bored expression.

“Yeah, what’s up?”

Jason wrapped his arms around the smaller man, squeezing him so hard Tim squawked in protest.

“What is wrong with you?” Tim demanded as he tried to escape the embrace.

“Tim,” Jason mumbled into his shoulder as he strengthened his grip. Tears dripped down his face, staining Tim’s shirt. “Tim. Tim. Tim.”

“Jason.” Tim was starting to panic. “Jason, what’s wrong? Jason? Dick! Dick get over here!”

Dick appeared at the top of the stairs a moment later. “You called?” Seeing the scene before him, Dick inhaled sharply. “Jason?”

“Something’s wrong,” Tim announced, as if that wasn’t clear.

“Jason,” Dick said, approaching him like he was a wild animal about to bolt. “Why don’t you let Tim go and we can talk about whatever’s bothering you.”

Jason just shook his head, refusing to let go of his younger brother. Under normal circumstances, Jason wouldn’t be caught dead in a position like this. But right now, he just couldn’t bring himself to care. He had just _watched his brother die_ for fuck’s sake!

Dick tried to pry the two of them apart, only for Jason to let out a low growl. Suddenly, a thought struck him.

Tim and Jason had died. That meant that everyone else had too. Dick, Damien, Alfred, Bruce. _Bruce._

Jason finally released Tim from the suffocating embrace. “I need to talk to Bruce!”

* * *

Naturally, Bruce was in the Cave logging information on a drug deal from the night before.

Jason made his way to the Cave with his three brothers following close behind. After a display like that, they weren’t going to leave him alone.

The four were dead quiet as they approached the Batcomputer, but somehow Bruce still knew they were there. He swiveled in his chair to look at them. “What can I help you with?”

Jason didn’t say anything. Instead, he just strode up to the chair and fell onto the older man, wrapping his arms around him. Bruce stiffened, not quite sure how to react before settling on patting Jason’s shoulder.

“What’s wrong, Jason?” Bruce asked as Jason finally released him and stepped back.

“Everyone died, Bruce,” Jason said blatantly. “Everyone fucking died, and we are all going to die again unless we do something.”

Damien scowled. “He has lost his mind.”

“No,” Jason snapped at him. “I have not. Some fucking cult summons some kind of god that wipes out the whole damn planet!” He whirled to face Tim. “I watched you die! You were right next to me. I felt the planet fall apart, and then I was crushed by a building. I felt myself die again. Bruce!” Jason turned to face him. “You’ve got to believe me!”

Dick looked nauseous by the time Jason finished. “Are you sure?”

“Does it look like I’m questioning myself right now,” Jason snarled. “If we don’t do something, it will happen again in exactly a year from now.”

“You time traveled,” Tim said, his face a few shades lighter than normal.

“Yes.”

Damien looked unsure. He turned to Bruce. “Father?”

Bruce remained silent as he contemplated what Jason had just said. Finally, he stood up. “Tell me everything.”

* * *

They told the Justice League the next day. Of fucking course, Jason had to go through the same song and dance as the first time around before everyone would believe him.

The whole time, his family treated him like he was about to shatter. Which actually might not have been that far off from the truth. Jason knew his mental state was starting to deteriorate. He could see it, his family could see it, and he was afraid what it would mean if he couldn’t pull it together.

In the meantime, there still wasn’t a whole hell of a lot to go off of but there was still a lot more than the first time around. Zatanna couldn’t say who exactly it was based off of Jason’s description alone, but she did confirm that it sounded like some sort of ancient deity.

After confirming his story, the Justice League started grilling Jason for details about the attack. They asked him the same question in a dozen different ways and forced him to remember the smallest details. They had Martian Manhunter probe his mind several times, which had the unfortunate consequence of forcing Jason to witness the destruction over and over again.

Reliving the same awful day was starting to take a toll on Jason. He barely could sleep anymore, and when he did manage, his dreams were filled with blood and darkness.

He became more irritable, snapping at his family for the smallest infractions. The Bats had never been good at _emotions_ , so they mostly just tried to give him space. The thing was, Jason himself wasn’t sure if that was what he needed or not. He knew he was spiraling but he didn’t know how to stop.

Surprisingly, it was actually Damien that pulled him out of his depressive funk.

“Todd,” He said, “You will take me to the art gallery.”

Jason’s brain short-circuited. “What?”

“The art gallery,” Damien repeated decisively. “You will take me.”

“I will?”

“Yes. A new abstract exhibit has just opened, and Father is too busy to take me. Therefore, you will take me.”

Jason blinked. “Why not Dick? He likes doing shit with you.”

“Grayson is also busy,” Damien said with a sniff, as if it was obvious. “Minors must be accompanied by an adult. You are technically an adult. You will take me.”

Jason sighed in defeat. Damien puffed up, looked rather proud of himself.

* * *

“I don’t get it.”

“Tt,” Damien clucked. “It is art, Todd.”

“No,” Jason protested. “I get that. What I don’t get is what this is trying to portray.”

Damien and Jason studied the white square on a red background. To Jason, this whole abstract exhibit just seemed to be random shapes on colorful backgrounds. How was that even considered art?

“Of course you wouldn’t understand it,” Damien scoffed.

“Okay then, what does it mean?” Damien remained silent. “That’s what I thought.” Jason stretched his arms. “Alright. That was the last one. Anything else you want to see?”

Damien hummed thoughtfully. “Not particularly, no. However, we need to go to the bookstore. One of my classes is requiring us to write a research essay on a topic of our choice, and we do not have books for my chosen subject at the Manor.”

“Really?” Jason asked curiously. “I thought we had books on just about everything. What topic did you choose?”

“Elephant shrews. Drake was mocking them the other day and I wish to prove to him that they are magnificent creatures that deserve respect.”

Jason laughed. “Yeah. I doubt Bruce has anything on that. Alright. We can make a quick stop on the way home.”

Damien nodded agreeably.

As they the gallery, Jason started to feel a little lighter. So what if they had died? Been there, done that. What mattered was that everyone was alive _now_. They could deal with the future. And if they lost again, Jason would get another chance. He could do this. He _would_ do this.

No matter how many tries it took.

* * *

“Or so I thought. Turns out, my mentality was flawed as I soon learned,” Jason told his audience. He lifted one of his restrained wrists and examined the cuff. “Can we take these off? They’re starting to chafe.”

“No,” Batman growled right as Superman and Wonder Woman were about to answer. Both backed down, recognizing that they wouldn’t win an argument.

Jason knew it too. He huffed irately. “Fine. Where was I? Oh, right. Attempt two, part two. Let’s see… What do you need to know? I’ve been glossing over a lot because quite frankly, I don’t like talking about this and we still have a _long_ way to go.”

Jason started tapping his fingers on the table as he thought. “Alright, so. Remember that suicide victim from attempt one?” Jason asked, waiting until Superman nodded before continuing. “I’m not going to tell you the whole story because it’s not all that interesting, but long story short, I saved her. Her family put her in the hospital and that was that. Again, this will become relevant later. In the meantime, I guess I should tell you about the Horsemen.”

“The Horsemen?” Wonder Woman, her expression giving away her confusion.

“Oh, right. I meant the cultists. This time around, things went completely different but exactly the same.”

* * *

“How?” Jason shouted furiously. “How did they do it? We were watching the buildings, the victims. It should have been impossible!”

“Calm down, Red Hood,” Batman ordered.

“No! Hell no!” Jason snapped. “We had heroes watching the victims 24/7, we had dozens of cameras on the buildings. How the fuck did they still manage to kill them? And in the same fucking locations no less!”

“The cameras show nothing, Batman,” Red Robin stated as he stared at the security footage of Wayne Tower. “One minute, everything is fine. The next, the Tower is covered in blood. It doesn’t make sense.” He whirled in his chair to face Jason. “Was it like this last time?”

Jason shook his head. “No. Last time, the fucker at Wayne Tower did it in broad daylight in front of hundreds of people. They all did.”

“So, they must have known we were watching for them then,” Red Robin mused. “How?”

“Ain’t that the million dollar question,” Jason snarled.

“Enough,” Batman said sharply. “Red Robin, rescan the security footage. I want a frame-by-frame visual for the last time the victim was seen. Red Hood, you’re with me.”

Jason snapped to attention. “Where are we going?”

“Watchtower,” Batman told him gruffly as if that answered everything.

“Yeah, but why?” Jason questioned.

Bruce didn’t reply, instead he just turned and walked off. Fuck. Bruce was starting to shut down and let Batman take over. That’s not good. Jason had seen it enough times to know that it meant the situation was bad.

Red Robin and Jason shared a look before Jason scrambled after the retreating figure.

* * *

“There is powerful magic involved,” Zatanna announced gravely. “It appears that they were on another plane of existence when they murdered their victims. Then they merged that one with ours, giving the results we’ve seen. I have only seen power like this associated with the ancient gods.”

“Could you have prevented it?” Batman asked.

Zatanna shook her head. “No. Not unless I knew exactly where they were. This is tricky magic. If the two dimensions had melded wrong, the results would’ve been catastrophic. Trying to stop them would be like trying to stop dynamite with a lit match.”

Jason slumped his shoulders, defeated. “So there’s nothing we can do.”

“I’m afraid not.”

“Any idea how they knew we were watching?”

Zatanna shrugged. “Magic. But with power like this, I’m not the least bit surprised.”

“Great,” Jason groaned. “So, we’re back at square one. Shit.”

“Not quite,” Zatanna corrected. “This incident has given me more insight into what we are dealing with. Though, I’ve got to say, the news isn’t good.”

“Well?” Jason prompted impatiently.

“There are tales of forgotten gods, sealed away in other dimensions at the creation of the world. I think we might be dealing with one of those.”

“And that’s bad?”

“Very.” Zatanna turned to look at Batman. “What it means is there is only a slim chance of winning. These forgotten gods were sealed away by something _much_ more powerful than any of us.”

“Is there any way to stop them?” Batman demanded.

“I don’t know,” Zatanna admitted tentatively. “There isn’t a whole lot of information on them, and what little there is, it’s pretty vague. Our best bet would be to stop it from coming through altogether.”

“So we need to stop the cultists,” Jason concluded.

“Stop the horsemen, stop the apocalypse,” Zatanna agreed. “Though, it probably won’t be that simple. From what I’ve seen, they already wield a lot of power. And you said that they vanished after the murders until they summoned the god?” Jason nodded. “That’s going to complicate things.”

Jason hesitated for a moment before asking, “What if we can’t stop them?”

Zatanna looked at the floor thoughtfully. “Honestly, I’m not sure. We don’t know where this god gets its power, and we don’t know any of its weaknesses. Though, nothing is truly invulnerable. The universe requires balance; even Superman has his kryptonite. So, there has to be some way to defeat it.”

“Hmm.” Batman turned and walked away, leaving Jason and Zatanna without so much as another word.

“Fuck.” Jason scrubbed a hand through his two-toned hair. “You’d think it was him that witnessed his family die.”

Zatanna gave him a sympathetic glance. Discomfort crept through Jason at the gesture.

“I better go,” Jason said.

He quickly made his escape and started towards the teleportation pads, avoiding as many of the heroes milling about as he could. From the looks he was getting, Jason knew that they wanted to approach him, but that was honestly the last thing he wanted. He had already told them everything he knew, whether they believed him or not.

This whole thing was really starting to get to Jason. The interrogations, the nightmares, the tiptoeing.

He really wasn’t sure how much more of it he could take before he snapped.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! An update!

“Turns out, I had a much higher tolerance for that shit than I had initially thought,” Jason said indifferently. “’Course, everyone had to go and test me on it, but what can you do?”

Superman looked queasy. “Based off everything you’ve said so far, this attempt didn’t end well either, did it?”

Jason shrugged. “Not especially. Still, compared to some of the latter ones, it was downright pleasurable,” He admitted. “I did learn some important details about the situation though. So, at least it wasn’t a complete waste of time.”

“A waste of time?” Wonder Woman echoed incredulously. “That is how you describe all this?”

Jason grinned wickedly. “Darling, time is a commodity. No one knows that better than me.”

* * *

They couldn’t find them. No matter how hard the Justice League looked, no matter who they pulled into the situation, they couldn’t find the cultists. The days ticked by as the deadline crept closer, and Jason was all too aware of the countdown looming over his head.

After they realized the futility of searching for the cultists, the Justice League switched gears and tried to secure the location where the god would be summoned.

There was always the chance that the cultists would just switch locations or merge dimensions again, but they had to try something.

So, in preparation for the impending events, the magic users of the League started placing wards and spells all over Metropolis. And after some explaining, the government had also agreed to start setting up perimeters and shelters across the city. They had learned pretty early on that if the Justice League was nervous about something, they should be fucking terrified.

Everyone was still overly cautious about what they said and did around Jason, but he had slowly started to become desensitized to it, which wasn’t necessarily a good thing, but he had bigger fish to fry.

One week before Armageddon, the hero community was in an uproar. Some heroes had bailed on the League and had started building bunkers, others who had access to spaceships left the doomed planet entirely.

Jason was just morbidly amused by the whole thing. He wasn’t sure how much Batman had told the Justice League, but no contingency plan would work. Not with the time loop. Then again, he hadn’t told Bruce everything about the loop either. But that information was irrelevant to the situation and wouldn’t become a problem if they could end this quickly.

They only had to win once.

“So, let me get this straight,” Tim said. “The tremors and energy surges started at about noon the day before.”

Jason nodded. “Yeah. They continued throughout the rest of the day and into the next one.”

“Right. Then, at about eight the next morning, the cultists showed up and summoned the god.”

“Yup,” Jason said wearily. He really should have slept in later. “That sounds about right.”

“And the Earth was destroyed by nine?” Tim questioned as he jotted down notes on a notepad.

“Yep.” Jason confirmed, popped the ‘p.’ “The god worked fast. The time between it coming through the portal and the end of the world was, oh, I’d say not even twenty minutes.”

“Right,” Tim said thoughtfully. “That doesn’t leave a lot of time for a counterattack, so we’ll have to rely heavily on the measures we’ve put in place ahead of time.”

Jason hummed in agreement as he picked at his nails. It wasn’t that he didn’t care, quite the contrary actually, it was just that he had had this same exact conversation more times than could count in the past week alone, never mind the year.

It was honestly exhausting.

But at least they didn’t have Martian Manhunter probing his mind almost daily anymore. That had been unbearable.

“So, what’s the plan, then?” Jason asked. There was no way that Bruce hadn’t already come up with something. The way Tim’s shoulders tensed slightly confirmed Jason’s suspicions. “Come on Tim, I know there’s a plan.”

“The Justice League will be on standby near Metropolis,” Tim reluctantly admitted. “I’m not sure I can tell you more than that.”

“Really?” Jason prodded. He knew there had to be more to the plan than that. He was kind of hurt that they had left him out. Just another example of them treating Jason like glass. When Tim didn’t answer, he continued, “You know that if you lose, I’m going to die anyways, right? I may as well be a part of it. Or is Bruce worried about my mental state?”

A flinch from Tim was more than enough to convince Jason he was right. Damn.

“You’re not going to tell me, are you?”

More silence.

Jason sighed in frustration. “Fine. Where’s Bruce? I think he and I need to have a little chat.”

“Cave,” Tim told him, obviously relieved to be let off the hook.

Jason hoisted himself off the couch with a groan, his shoulders popping painfully at the movement. “Thanks. See you later, Timmy.”

* * *

Bruce didn’t look away his position at the Batcomputer as Jason entered the Cave. “Have you finished with Jason, Tim?”

“Oh man, you are so losing it old man!” Jason said with fake cheer. “Guess it’s almost time to call up the nursing home.”

Bruce finally looked up. “Jason.”

“Yup! That’s me!”

“What do you need, Jason?” Bruce asked, his tone softening slightly.

“Well,” Jason rubbed the back of his neck as he walked slowly towards Bruce. “A little birdy told me that there’s a plan, but I’m not a part of it. I just thought I should mention it to you so we can correct that oversight.”

Bruce’s expression darkened. “Jason-”

“Don’t you dare, Bruce,” Jason said over him. “Don’t you fucking dare. You can’t honestly be expecting me to just sit around at home while everyone else fights for the fate of the world.” Bruce didn’t respond. “Well fuck me, you actually do.”

“Jason,” Bruce said finally. “We don’t know if we can win this time. If we don’t the time loop will restart, and you’ll have to relive this. The psychological effects of witnessing the destruction again could negatively impact you.”

“Yeah, but you are forgetting something,” Jason pointed out. “I need to be there to see what happens so that if we do lose, I’ll know what went wrong and can convey that information to the Justice League. Otherwise we could be making the same fucking mistakes over and over again and not even know it.”

When Bruce remained silent, Jason continued. “Okay. Which is worse: seeing everyone die a few times, or reliving the same year over and over again while dying and knowing that everyone died each and every time? No matter how you look at it, I’m going to be mentally scared. This is the best way to minimize the damage, don’t you agree?”

Bruce pondered Jason’s words for a minute before replying. “Fine,” He said. “But you will obey all my orders.”

“Yes!” Jason said, pumping his fist. He turned with a wave and started to leave before Bruce could change his mind. “Thanks! Send me the details.”

* * *

“You were right,” Jason told Batman, who remained static. “Watching everyone die definitely did me no favors. Then again, I was also right.” Jason sighed. “There was no good solution. Rock or hard place, pick your poison.”

“You watched everyone die?” Superman asked softly.

“Depends what you mean by everyone,” Jason said with a shrug. “It wasn’t pretty, I’ll tell you that much. But like I said earlier, this one was nothing compared to future attempts.”

* * *

Jason was on the front lines with Batman when the cultists appeared in front of City Hall. One minute, there was no one. The next, the four of them had appeared out of thin air like the damned heralds of the apocalypse.

For the first time, Jason got a good look at all four cultists. He recognized the feral woman with the sword that Dick and Damien fought the first time, as well as the brute with the mace that had killed Tim and all but killed Jason. He didn’t know anything about the other two, a slim man and a nearly identical woman. Twins, maybe? They were both armed with identical pairs of daggers, which fed into Jason’s twin theory. All the cultists’ weapons contained that same fucking dullness that was reminiscent of shadow.

“Our god approaches!” The monologuing cultist announced. A shiver ran down Jason’s spine at the man’s voice. “Behold!”

The black that Jason had seen the last time crept up the side of City Hall in the same webbed pattern as before. From this close, he could see that it really did have no real substance. Shadow was still the most accurate word he could think of to describe it.

“Soon the world shall fall,” The cultist shouted. “Soon it shall become a reflection of our god. Know that your time has come and make peace with your impending deaths.”

The feral woman scoffed. “Just die already, mortals.”

“I am no mere mortal,” Wonder Woman asserted boldly. She stepped forward. “And your god does not frighten me.”

The feral woman sneered angrily at Wonder Woman. “He really, really should.” She threw something at Wonder Woman.

“Watch out!” Green Arrow yelled over the comms, as if no one saw the threat.

All the nearby heroes scrambled out of the way as an explosion rocked the street. In the midst of the confusion, the feral woman launched herself at Wonder Woman in a craze. Jason, remembering what happened next, unholstered his guns as the rest of the cultists also joined the fray.

“Red Hood with me!” Batman bellowed to Jason as the lead cultist started towards them.

Jason kept to Batman’s side as the two of them charged the burly man. Shazam quickly joined them in the brawl, holding nothing back. The heroes had all agreed beforehand that this was not the time to be pulling punches.

As Shazam went toe-to-toe with the cultist, Batman and Jason used openings to attack with ranged weapons.

Jason emptied clip after clip into the monster of a man, and to his surprise, they actually appeared to be hurting him. In fact, this fight was going nothing like it had before. The man seemed slower, weaker than the first time they had fought.

Not to say he wasn’t powerful. But it wasn’t enough to withstand the onslaught of three desperate heroes.

As Shazam grappled with the man before a batarang lodged itself within the soft cartilage of his knee, exploding a second later. The man fell to his remaining knee in a roar of pain, giving Jason a clear shot of his eye. The organ burst in a mist of blood and brain matter as the bullet met its mark. Without another sound, the cultist collapsed into a bloody pile of meat.

Shazam looked ready to hurl as he turned towards Batman and Jason and asked, “Did we win?”

Breathing heavily from the exertion, Jason turned to see what had become of the other groups. Wonder Woman’s group had taken down the feral cultist. The female twin was lying dead at the feet of Superman, two sizzling holes in her chest as the rest of his group looked vaguely sick. The male twin was still fighting Flash’s group but was quickly losing ground before a well-timed arrow struck his heart.

Something like hope fluttered through Jason as he examined the scene. Could it really be this easy? Could the nightmare finally be over?

A sudden shockwave struck Jason in the chest, throwing him from his feet and into a nearby building. The air left his lungs in a painful gasp as glass rained down on him from shattered windows. He scrambled to his feet the moment the world stopped spinning.

“No,” Jason breathed into the howling wind. The portal was open. How? The cultists were dead!

Jason tore his eyes away from the inky portal to frantically scan for Batman. Relief flooded his chest as he finally found the black-clad man standing near the lifeless body of the cultist. Or… wait. Jason eyes widened as he saw a twitch of motion.

Fuck.

“Bruce, look out!” Jason yelled as he took off towards his father. He leveled his gun and shot just as the cultist grabbed Batman by the ankle and yanked him from his feet. Batman landed with a grunt before kicking the man in the face and rolling out of reach.

Batman leapt to his feet again just as Jason reached his side. Jason quickly emptied the rest of his clip into the monster, who just shrugged it off with a cruel laugh.

“Did you honestly think that defeating us would stop our god?” The cultist said with callous delight. “How amusing.” The man pushed himself to his feet before hoisting his discarded mace onto his shoulder. “My god summons me. But fret not, you shall both die soon.”

Batman and Jason attempted to stop the brute as he made his way towards the portal, but they couldn’t so much as even slow him down. The other three cultists also converged in front of the shadowed building, showing no signs of being dead only moments before.

Jason’s heart stuttered painfully as one shadowy leg appeared through the portal, followed by another. The alarming, ominous feeling from the first time around assaulted Jason tenfold. It took all his willpower not to collapse on the spot in defeat as the monstrous entity fully emerged from the whirl of black in a brief stumbling motion.

“Bow before our god Nex, the end of all!” The lead cultist proclaimed loudly with widespread arms. “Know that your destruction is nigh.”

“Nex,” Jason breathed. Finally, he had a name for the face of evil. Jason turned to the man next to him. “Batman?”

Batman clenched his jaw as he stared at the embodiment of death.

“Our god Nex shall soon bring an end to your suffering,” The cultist continued indifferently, “but only if we do not finish you first.”

With that, the lead cultist lunged at Batman yet again, barely missing the vigilante with his weapon of choice. Batman retaliated by throwing several batarangs at the man, only for them to slide harmlessly off his skin.

“Fuck!” Jason shouted as he jumped into the fray. “Not this time, bastard!”

Jason quickly lost track of everything going on around him as his vision narrowed onto the man that had killed his little brother. Rage boiled in his veins as he discarded his guns in favor of summoning the All-Blades. A cry tore its way out of his throat as he swung the blade violently, ripping the man’s shirt but otherwise doing no damage. He dodged a blow that would’ve knocked his head clean off had it landed before futilely swiping at the man again.

“Red Hood,” Batman thundered. “Stop!”

Jason only roared in response as he engaged the man again, his blades flashing through the air as the collided into the mace’s metal guard with a resounding clang. The two men were locked in place, their faces inches apart.

The cultist studied Jason intently for a moment before declaring, “You have seen death’s face before. A pity. Our lord Nex might have had use for you. Alas, it is time for you to die, child.”

The cultist pushed against the weapons effortlessly, shoving Jason back. Jason gritted his teeth as he tried to resist against the unrelenting force, his combat boots leaving deep grooves in the dirt as he was pushed.

Realizing he couldn’t win a battle of brute strength, Jason tried to withdraw only to find himself trapped in place by the cultist, who jerked their weapons down at an angle effectively immobilizing him. A strangled scream left his throat as he felt the bones in his arms start to crack. The awkward angle of the force exerted by the monster of a man was becoming unbearable and the edges of Jason’s vision flickered black.

He was sure he was about to pass out when a black figure charged the cultist, who disengaged Jason in favor of the new threat.

As soon as the pressure was gone, Jason fell to his knees panting. He clawed at his face with a gloved hand in a desperate attempt to chase away the darkness creeping into his vision. With a moment of panicked horror, Jason realized that the black was not just his damaged eyesight.

The same black webbed pattern that haunted Jason’s dreams was once again spreading across the ground like a putrid infection. For a moment, all Jason could do was stare at the pattern he now associated with death before a sickening crunch echoed through the fetid air. Jason whirled towards the sound, the dread inside him growing.

Batman was on the ground, unmoving, while the cultist towered above him with a sadistic smirk.

No. Batman couldn’t have lost. There was no way he would lose, right?

Right?

“Batman?” Jason croaked as he slowly crawled to his feet, his torn muscles screaming at the effort. “Bruce?”

The lifeless form remained still.

Jason tried to limp over towards his fallen father, only to be stopped by the sudden, familiar pain that came with a mace to the chest.

Jason collapsed silently to the ground, unable to find the breath to even scream. His body felt like it was on fire as his vision flashed white. He gasped painfully through his broken ribs as he frantically tried to scramble to his feet.

“Don’t worry child. Your suffering shall end now.”

He didn’t feel the final blow land.


End file.
